Hamilton wins wild Saudi GP after Verstappen forced to give up lead

DPA Jeddah Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Sunday after title rival Max Verstappen was ordered to hand him fir...

DPAJeddahMercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Sunday after title rival Max Verstappen was ordered to hand him first place following a dangerous move as the Briton was poised to overtake.In a dramatic race where the lead changed hands due to safety cars, a pitstop and two race restarts because of crashes on the new twisting street circuit, Hamilton went level on points with Red Bull’s Verstappen at the top of the standings.It sets up one of the greatest finales in the history of Formula One in the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi next weekend with Verstappen nominally ahead in the standings because of race wins.Hamilton had tried to pass the Dutchman and after the pair touched, Verstappen was told to give his rival first place. The 24-year-old then slowed down so much when Hamilton tried to overtake again that they came into contact another time.Verstappen was then given a five-second penalty for the original infringement and seven-times champion Hamilton, with a damaged front wing, went by to claim his 103rd F1 victory in a wild race.“I’ve been racing a long time, but that was incredibly tough. I tried to be as tough and as sensible as I could out there, with all my experience over the years,” Hamilton said.Verstappen, booed by some of the crowd, said: “It was eventful, a lot of things happened that I don’t fully agree with.“I slowed down, I wanted to let him by, I was on the right but he didn’t want to overtake and we touched.” Hamilton had got away from pole smoothly with Verstappen, third on the grid after hitting a wall in qualifying on an otherwise flying lap, failing to make an immediate attack.Valtteri Bottas, who ultimately finished third, stayed between the title contenders with his Mercedes but the midfield racers showed early on that overtaking was possible on the high-walled track, before a series of bizarre events intervened.Mick Schumacher in his Haas suffered the first crash into the barriers.That led to the pack being bunched behind the safety car and Hamilton immediately pitting on lap 10 in a strategy gamble. Verstappen in contrast stayed out to assume the lead with Bottas also coming in.A red flag was then waved as the barrier hit by Schumacher could not be repaired easily, meaning all the cars had to come into the pitlane, with Verstappen able to change tyres while still in the lead.Hamilton swore over the radio, adding: “I don’t know what the reason for the red flag is.” The huge stroke of luck for Verstappen meant he began on “pole” for the restart but Hamilton immediately got past him only for the Red Bull man to retake the lead but by cutting the corner as Esteban Ocon tried to go past both.A multiple car crash at the back of the restart meant yet another race suspension.Race control gave Red Bull the option of restarting from third place because Verstappen cut the corner, in order to avoid a full investigation. They accepted and Ocon took over as the leader, with Hamilton second.On the second restart, Verstappen made a superb move on the inside to quickly get beyond Ocon and Hamilton to lead once again.Hamilton made it into second and then hunted down Verstappen before the late chaos between the pair put him ahead and pushed Mercedes towards the constructor’s title.Human rights groups have protested against Saudi Arabia holding its first grand prix, accusing the regime of “sportswashing” to hide human rights abuses and blaming Formula One for only following the money.Further tributes to former race team owner Frank Williams, who died last week, took place at the race.